Colin Maclaurin

Article abstract: Maclaurin, the greatest British mathematician of the eighteenth century, developed and extended Isaac Newton’s work in fluxions (calculus) and gravitation and made important new discoveries in geometry and mathematical analysis.

Early Life

Colin Maclaurin was born in 1698 in the western Scottish county of Argyll. He was the youngest of the three sons of John Maclaurin, a learned minister of Kilmodan parish. John, the eldest son, followed in his father’s footsteps and became a minister. Daniel, the second son, manifested signs of...

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